This invention relates to the packaging of net-enclosed or netted products, the machines and methods that form such products, and especially to the machines and methods that form net-enclosed turkeys and similar poultry and meat products, as well as potentially, net-enclosed firewood, bulk explosives, and other possible net-enclosed consumer and industrial products.
Knitted and extruded netting is a packaging material of choice for industries including meat and poultry, aquaculture, horticulture, Christmas tree, PVC pipe, environmental, aviation, fruit and produce, toys, housewares, and the like. Knitted netting can be soft, flexible, and conformable to a variety of irregularly shaped products. Knitted netting provides air circulation, and can be decorative and protective. Tipper Tie Inc., a Dover Industries company, makes and sells desirable netting under the trademark Net-All. In meat netting, Net-All netting is used for hams, whole birds, poultry breasts, and molded meat products.
Netting is applied to products manually, semi-automatically, and fully automatically by a variety of machines and methods including the Tipper Tie Whole Bird Packaging System, the Tipper Tie Automatic Whole Bird Packaging System, Tipper Tie Model TB15, and the Tipper Tie Clipper Model Z3214. Another Tipper Tie apparatus for applying netting is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,234, issued on Aug. 27, 1991, to Alfred J. Evans et al. for a Collagen Film and Netting Packaging System and Method. A loop forming mechanism for flexible packaging material is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,216, issued on Nov. 24, 1992 to Dennis J. May et al., for a Loop Forming Mechanism for Flexible Packaging Material. As stated in the identified Evans et al. patent, netting is sometimes placed around products to be netted when the products exits chutes or tubes around which the netting is rucked. Machines known as clippers may place metal clips on the netting between the products, to close the netting and provide for separation of the products.
While the existing products, machines and methods of the “netting art” have great value, especially those from Tipper Tie Inc., the frontier of technology is ahead of them, to be advanced further by inventive efforts.